http://www.icann.org/en/announcements/announcement-01jun11-en.htm ________________________________ Increase of the Registrar Accreditation Application Fee and Introduction of Further Due Diligence Background Checks 1 June 2011 To offset the costs of increased due diligence, the application fee for submitting an ICANN accreditation application will be increased from the current fee of US $2,500 to US $3,500 effective on 1 July 2011. All applications received on or after that date will be subject to a non-refundable US $3,500 application fee. The increased fee will offset the costs for ICANN to conduct additional due diligence checks on applicants during the registrar accreditation application process, including reviews of: * Criminal records; * Credit records; * Financial history and solvency; * Corporate/company structure and ownership. In order to conduct these due diligence checks ICANN will perform inquiries through the use of external resources (including reputable commercial third party information service providers). These steps are the result of community input that called for the strengthening of the requirements for registrar accreditation, and to address changes that have arisen in the registrar marketplace. The associated public comment period can be found at: http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/public-comment-201101-en.htm#registra... The ICANN Board of Directors voted to approve the fee increase for these purposes at its meeting on 21 April 2011 (http://www.icann.org/en/minutes/resolutions-21apr11-en.htm#3). Glen de Saint Géry GNSO Secretariat gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org<mailto:gnso.secretariat@gnso.icann.org> http://gnso.icann.org